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Sunday, January 08, 2006
Cebu judge asked to keep hands off customs case
After giving an order preventing the government from imposing additional tax on second-hand vehicles, a judge has been asked to inhibit from the case.
Regional Trial Court Judge Eric Menchavez earlier stopped the imposition of the P500,000 flat rate for every imported second-hand vehicle, through the issuance of a preliminary injunction.
But the respondents, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, District Collector Ma. Lourdes Mangaoang and Acting Customs Commissioner Alexander Arevalo, now want the judge off the case.
They filed the motion for inhibition against Menchavez before the preliminary injunction was signed last December 28.
It was filed after Menchavez issued a 20-day relief of the tax imposition through a temporary restraining order (TRO).
Prejudged
But the Office of the Solicitor General, who represents the two cabinet secretaries, believes Menchavez has prejudged the case by issuing the TRO.
“We submit that the issuance of the TRO is in effect a prejudgment of the case as it already assumed the proposition which the petitioners are bound to prove during the hearing on the merits of the petition,” read the motion signed by Solicitor General Alfredo Benipayo.
“Stated differently, the TRO is already an approval or validation of the petitioner’s contention that Executive Order 418 is not constitutional and legal,” the motion further read.
Businessman-petitioners Russ Jao, William Lim, Jean Lopez, Rosalinda King, Roger and Allan Crisologo, and Arvin Mopon, represented by lawyer Angel Gatmaitan, claimed that EO 418 usurped legislative powers when it ordered for the flat rate without a law passed in Congress.
“Having prejudged the case, the honorable judge, with due respect, is no longer impartial and disinterested. Needlessly, the honorable judge should excuse himself from further hearing the case,” Ermita and Teves said.
During a hearing last Friday, representatives of Mangaoang and Arevalo adopted the motion for inhibition filed by Ermita and Teves.
Menchavez has yet to rule on the matter, giving the petitioners time to comment on the motion.
During an informal talk with reporters, the judge said he does not have any personal interest in the case. (JGA)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (January 8, 2006 issue)
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